sports antedates and cites (slide); Lansing claims to WOTY

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SLIDE

slide (v, baseball) (OED has 1891)
"Baseball in Australia," Harry Palmer, _Outing_, November, 1888, p. 164/1
"Slide-When a base-runner sees that there is a chance of the fielders
getting the ball to the base for which he is making before he gets there
himself, he will plunge head first, or feet first, for the bag, sliding over
the ground upon his stomach or back, a distance of ten feet or more to the
base; this is called base-sliding, and is a reckless and daring feature of
the game that invariably arouses much enthusiasm in America.


It's earlier than this, but the Sporting News starts here.

29 March 1886, THE SPORTING NEWS, pg. 6, col. 4:
"Hey there Gus," said Charley, "I hear that you are teaching your boys how to slide. How do they go, old boy. On rollers, head or feet first, or do they wear a sliding pad. How do they go, anyhow?"

"Every which way," said Gus. "Sometimes they slide head first and sometimes feet first, and then again they come every which way. Look out for 'em, Charley."

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LANSING CLAIMS

Yes, the Banished Words List was first. But it's not like anyone has invented a "best of the year" list, preventing all others from doing so.

Britannica was doing words of the year even before Lake Superior. Should the Lake Superior people give some kind of asterisk when they present their work?